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The Purpose of this thread is to catch all questions about potential PC builds and/or issues you have with existing PC’s that need upgrades. I will keep as current as I can two separate “suggested” PC builds that hit two major price points (under $1200 and under $2000). Within those builds should be fairly easy and obvious ways to reduce the price $X hundred dollars down and or up which I will suggest underneath each link to the build. NOTE! Right now GPU pricing at the mid-range is still in quite a state of flux with Bitcoin Miners driving up pricing way above retail so YMMV on exact pricing. As well I've dropped the sub $1000 build for a more realistic sub $1200 build that is really more focused for 1080P+ and VR Gaming.

"Console Killer Build" 8/1/2017

This is an approx. $550 PC that will perform at 1080P comparably to current gen console platforms. This is certainly not a exhaustive attempt to optimize to the last % of performance but a general guide to a PC that will play modern titles at Med-Ultra details at 1080P at ~40-60fps.

This is a quality Gaming PC at a sub $1200 Price point. Target gaming resolution is 1440P/2160P @~50-60fps with High to Ultra details in all modern Games (variance is dependent on specific games) as well as a quality VR gaming experience. Specifics are 8GB of VRAM in the GPU to allow for new Cross Platform titles to select the highest quality textures. I chose to go with a small (275GB SSD) for OS and some game storage with a cheap 1TB drive for the rest of the games. The budget is blown open by getting the most GPU and CPU for the money possible as this is a gaming PC first and foremost.

Options I can suggest are

1. Swap to a 4TB Hard Drive and get more total storage for less "speed" on the OS SSD option
2. Drop down to a Nvidia 1060 or AMD 580 8GB for less GPU power but save $200 for perhaps a larger SSD and maybe a larger secondary Hard Drive. OR you just want a more powerful CPU with still solid gaming. Note with GPU Pricing right now its not really recommended to do this until pricing settles down. Those GPU's should save you $200 but right now they are not. As well Vega 56 might end up a better option than the 1070 when its released.

This is a “high end” Gaming PC that focuses on gaming at > 1440P resolutions. 1440P/1600P/2160P @ 50-70+FPS at High to Ultra details is the target for this build. Again you will find 11GB of VRAM to allow for the highest texture levels in newer Cross Platform Titles. Additionally a large SSD and HD will be featured for no compromise disk performance.

Options I can suggest are

1. Go with an AMD Ryzen 1600X and a x370 Motherboard for a more "workstation" (more cores) like PC than the Intel and bump the memory to 32GB of ram for a similar cost. This PC can run VM's as well as more workstation demanding software better than the i7-7700K.
2. Go with the Corsair Air 540 if you need 5.25" Drive Bays for Optical Drives as well as more internal HD Storage.

What to do if your brand new PC won’t boot after you put it all together.

0. Check Motherboard to see if it has a bios code LED area that might clue you into what it might be. Usually a two digit code that you can reference either in the manual or on the internet.

1. Remove everything but the CPU/Cooler, VideoCard, 1 stick of Memory. Power supply

2. See if it boots. If it does start adding parts one at a time starting with second memory (3rd, 4th etc), then hard drives and finally optical drive and other parts

3. No dice? Check all your power cables to make sure they are seated properly.

4. Now things get tricky. Start by updating BIOS of the motherboard. Sometimes that can help with memory compatibility. Newer systems can update BIOS even without post via USB typically in one usb Port. Check the manual.

5. Sometimes you can miss something. So take everything apart and put it back together again a bit slower than last time. Inspect the CPU and socket make sure no pins are bent.

6. Make sure you have a working Power Supply. If your motherboard has lights that usually means it’s good but google the paper clip trick.

7. Missing Hard Drive or non-bootable hard drive. Check your SATA ports and manual to see if some get disabled depending on M.2 card usage and GPU or PCIe card usage.

8. Ask on the boards here to see if someone else has had a similar problems.

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

I remember in the distant past using a color strip that stuck to the screen (I think it was vinyl?) and a program that would display the same colors right next to it on the monitor. That allowed both color matching by eye, and correction to local lighting conditions. I wonder if those still exist. That was with a CRT.

Thanks for explaining the ICC itself, though, that's helpful.

The two sides to every story are true and false, not yours and theirs. Facts are not political; lies are. - Deven Green (Mrs. Betty Bowers)

Yepyep. Air is just as good (if you buy a good one), and more reliable. It's more of a pain to install, but on an Intel chip, you normally only have to do that once. If I put an Intel chip on a board, it will never move again. (barring motherboard failure, anyway.) And the big annoying cooler isn't really in the way after it's installed, since any work I'll do on the computer is centered on the PCI slots and SATA cabling.

On an AMD chip, the relative ease of working around a watercooler might matter a little more, because you can theoretically upgrade those. But you'll probably only do that once at most, so two ttotal installs per motherboard lifetime. Probably.

Reliability, on the other hand, pays off every single day.

Thing is, I also agree that Linus' team's testing methods are hilariously clownshoe ludicrous. (GIANT BEAN BAGS?) However, just like their hilariously complicated water cooled rigs they're presented honestly and for entertainment - and they don't invalidate the point.

"Cool factor" and "I like to tinker" are genuine values for many people. Practicality isn't exactly on the same side of the scale as a gaming rig. So, in the end, the more varied the points of view are out there, the easier everyone will find solutions which will match up with their own tastes.

To sum it up: Liked the video and your POV enough to post it Malor. Keep on keepin' on.

I don't fault you for posting it (though I wish you hadn't). The thing is we've all sorta given up on this line of discussion. What happens is that Malor will post at first a somewhat reasonable response essentially repeating what he has posted a million times over. If we do engage (and occasionally I will in a moment of weakness) he will get less reasonable and more condescending.. if you engage further he might even infer that you are an idiot (or to be fair I might infer he (and others) is (are) an idiot(s)) and eventually Certis might come along and slap people around.

There are many reasonable parallels to other products or concepts outside of just AIO vs Air that show that two very different products that essentially do the same thing can co-exist in harmony.. there are also many things that can be shown that say hey XYZ seems pretty popular.. people keep buying them.. and people keep making them so they must be doing something right.

BUT its really really really really really, not worth the time and effort.

edit.

I lie.. I'm usually not savvy enough to nuance an infer of idiocy.

Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarterDelivering Truth while the 10% deliver lies.

The proper way to do it is with a meter. If you're using a published ICC, then it's not tuned for your specific display, just your model. This is usually a fair bit better than nothing, but won't typically look as good as a proper calibration of your actual screen.

Yes, this goes without saying, but as you go on to state, 99.9% of the population is not going to spend $1,000 calibrating their personal use displays.

I used the 2417 DG icc profile as a starting spot and tweaked from there. I have 2 of those displays running the same icc profile, and its clear the downloaded profile is not one-size-fits-all. On one monitor I barely did any adjusting, on the other I adjusted the monitor values just a touch. Either way for my eyes and general room lighting , I found it to be a significant improvement over what I had been running for the last 18 months.

I don't fault you for posting it (though I wish you hadn't). The thing is we've all sorta given up on this line of discussion. What happens is that Malor will post at first a somewhat reasonable response essentially repeating what he has posted a million times over. If we do engage (and occasionally I will in a moment of weakness) he will get less reasonable and more condescending.. if you engage further he might even infer that you are an idiot (or to be fair I might infer he (and others) is (are) an idiot(s)) and eventually Certis might come along and slap people around.

There are many reasonable parallels to other products or concepts outside of just AIO vs Air that show that two very different products that essentially do the same thing can co-exist in harmony.. there are also many things that can be shown that say hey XYZ seems pretty popular.. people keep buying them.. and people keep making them so they must be doing something right.

BUT its really really really really really, not worth the time and effort.

edit.

I lie.. I'm usually not savvy enough to nuance an infer of idiocy.

Yeah. There is no one right answer when it comes to our silly overpowered entertainment devices, and how we play dress-up with them like they're extremely complicated dollies. Even the most practical approaches should be accompanied by a knowing smirk. I suppose that potential bridge of understanding isn't one everybody is going to cross, but I like its presence just in case!

"I basically do what Lou says." -- Yonder
"My love is for Lou." -- LiquidMantis
"LouZiffer is a gentleman, a rogue, and a fantastic lover." -- Vector
"You could yoink it for a Sig." -- Demosthenes

So I just picked up a Logitech G Pro Wireless mouse, as a replacement for my out-of-warranty G900 which has had some double-clicking issues with the right mouse button (although blasting the crap out of the mouse switches with contact cleaner seems to have solved that issue, at least for the time being)

I'm a little torn on the G Pro, as I have large hands and it feels like it was made for babies (the G900 wasn't giant either, but provided much more of a hump for a palm rest, the G Pro is surprisingly flat).

On the other hand, actually playing with it for a 3 1/2 hour Siege session felt extremely good. The light weight makes it glide so well. The tracking is impeccable, not that the G900 had any problems there.

I'm a little out of practice, it seems. When building a new PC, what's the right way to get a valid Windows 10 license? Does Microsoft sell them directly? It looks like there are product keys you can buy from Newegg, so I assume in that case you'd download Windows onto a USB installation drive then use the product key you receive from Newegg?

I'm a little out of practice, it seems. When building a new PC, what's the right way to get a valid Windows 10 license? Does Microsoft sell them directly? It looks like there are product keys you can buy from Newegg, so I assume in that case you'd download Windows onto a USB installation drive then use the product key you receive from Newegg?

I just bought mine directly from MS as a download. I started looking at Amazon and others and saw more and more versions and finally gave up bargain shopping.

I'm a little out of practice, it seems. When building a new PC, what's the right way to get a valid Windows 10 license? Does Microsoft sell them directly? It looks like there are product keys you can buy from Newegg, so I assume in that case you'd download Windows onto a USB installation drive then use the product key you receive from Newegg?

I already have an 1800X system, but for gaming it doesn't really keep up with the 1080Ti. I end up CPU limited on occasion. So I still do my gaming on my 6700k system that does keep up with it.

The 2700X is already roughly a sort of sidegrade from the 6700k, so the supposedly even more IPC efficient and also higher clocked 3000 series should be a decent little upgrade while allowing me to ditch Intel in yet another system.

I recently picked up a Dell Optiplex 990 i7 2600 3.4Ghz QC 8GB Ram 500GB HDD Win 10 Computer, with a view to drop a well matched graphics card, add a bit more RAM if necessary, and get stuck into my 2012/2014 Steam backlog, and dable in some Dolphin emulation...

Heck, I may even load up my old copy of Game Creator, or try and finally crack Blender.

Basically, I'm not looking for bleeding edge, I'm happy with capable, at 1080p. It's not the SFF chassis, it's the mid tower model so there's a good amount of room inside. I'm even toying with the idea of finally blowing the dust off my Steam Link, and trying that out, via Ethernet.

So, TLDR, looking to breathe life into a second gen i7 setup with an older graphics card, but completely befuddled by that side of the market, as I've been a Macman my entire life.

Considering the following list of cards, made by watching too many ETA Prime YouTube videos, and trying to find "easy" pickups, outside of the US market, down here in Australia for similar projects he's built.